Actuating mechanism for pressing machines



Sept. 15, 1931. E. DAVIS 1,823,259

ACTUATING MECHANISM FOR PRESSING MACHINES Original Filed Oct. 29, 1928 Wyn ATTORNEYS,

' Patented Sept. 15, 1931 VIII-UNITED, STATES PATENT OFFICE I ERNEST DAVIS, or SYRACUSE, NEW YORK,

; INC., OFMSYRACUSE'NEW YORK, A conrons'rron on NEW YORK ASSIGNOR TO .THE PROSPERITY COMPANY ACT UATING MECHANISM FOR PRESSIN G MACHINES Application filed October 29, 1928, seas This invention relates to pressing machines or more particularly actuating mechanism formachines having an opening and closing movement as garment and laundry pressing machines, and it has for its object a particularly simple mechanism for varying the leverage or ratio between the prime mover and the element or press head to which the motion is transferred so as to convert a comparatively great movement of the prime mover-into a small powerful movement ofithe presslhead when the latter is moving into final pressing position.

An object of this invention is to improve the operation of toggle actuated pressing machines by providing boosting mechanism for compensating for the changes in the length of thetogglewhen the same is near straightened position. A'more specific ob-' ject of the invention is to improve upon the compensating mechanism shown in my Pat-, ent 1,682,378, issued August 28, 1928. The

com ensatin mechanism shown in the atentreferred to possesses the disadvantage that if an eccentric is'used and turned by a straight radial arm the Variation in, the

length of the toggle, as the same approaches and passes straightened position, is not at the most desirable rate to fully compensate for the change in thestraight line distance between the ends of the toggle. v

The; invention consists in the novel features and in the combinations and constructions hereinafter setforth and. claimed.

In describing this invention, reference is had. to theaccompanying drawings in which like characters designate corresponding parts in all the views.

Figure-1 is a side'elevation of a. pressing machine embodying my invention.

Figure 2 is a diagrammatic view illustrating the operation thereof.

1 Figure 3 is a diagrammatic "view illustrating the operation of a machine in which the leverage is not modified or the operationof a machine on'which this invention is an improvement.

is movable toward and from the other, mech a- No. 315,704. Renewed ember 29, 1930.

nism for actuating the movable element comprisinga prime mover as the movable member of a'motor, motion transmitting c'onnec-j' tions between the movable motor member and the movable pressing element comprising means automatically operated by the movement, ofsaid connections to vary thelleverage or the ratioof the leverage between the prime mover or the movable member of the motor and the movable pressing element, particularly so as to transfer a comparatively large movement of the prime mover compared to the movement of the press head into a small powerful movement of the press.

The cooperating pressing elements include a stationary buck 1 mounted on a suitable frame 2 and a head 3 movable toward and from the buck 1, this head being carriedby a lever 4 pivoted between its ends at 5 to the frame. The actuating mechanism comprises a suitable motor as a cylinder 6 having a piston movable therein and motion transmitting connections between the piston rod 7 and the" head 3. The motion transmitting connections in addition to the lever 4, comprise a toggle, here shown as including links 8 and 9 pivoted respectively at 10 to the base of the frame and at 11 to the rear arm of the yoke lever 4, and the motion of the piston rod 7 is transferred to the toggle through a lever 12 constituting a forward extension from the toggle link 8 and together with said link forming a bell crank lever. The piston is single acting.

a The press head is opened by 13, 14. There is an additional spring 15 1which acts to check the final closing of the iead.

countersprings The construction thus far described, in it ride up ahigh portion 21 of the cam thus ;to, position; C. This shortening of the toggle tion C. .and while the lever 12 andhence the other sideof the slot. When the free end of the cam faces 23, 2 1 is made such that cally the means comprises a pivot pin 16 rotatably' mounted in a bearing in link 8 and having an eccentric portion 17 rotatably mounted in a bearing 18 at the lower end of.

as formed with a rock arm 19 projecting forwardly at an angleto the toggle when it is in straightened position and coacting with a fixed cam 20 provided on the frame. 7

The eccentric is normally arranged with its toggle is folded or in the position A indicated by the dot and dash lines, Figure 2, and re'- mainsin th s-P s i o der o e fec a quick closing ofthe press, from wide open po- 7 sition towardclosed position or while the.

toggle. is traveling from position A to .apreliminary closed position B, and the p ston rod is, travelingvfroin' position A to position B and'the press .headtra'vel ng from posit on A to; position Bwhich is nearly closed position.

When in positionB, the head is said'tobe preliminarilyclosed or is in a closed pos tion by which little or nopressure is applied as I distinguished froinfinal position. when final heavy or full pressure is applied.

The arm 19 then engagesand beg ns to turning thejeccentric downwardly in an anticlockwisedirectionor backing it off and shortening theefiective length of. the toggle while the parts are moving. from positionB efiectsa short powerful movement of .the

" headfrom position B to position C while the straightened position the free end of the arm toggleis moving, a comparatively long dis tance from position B toward full line posi-t piston is traveling from positionBto. position'C in a'longer are compared with the movement of the head between the points B 04 1' Y i I As, .the toggle] reaches. substantially 19. follows a retreating or backed .oif portion 23 of the cam. This portion of the cam is of slot formation, the side 2tforniing the of the arm 19 moves along between the cam faces 23,, .24 the arm will be moved in a clockwise direction to rotate the eccentric so asv to increase the length of'the toggle.- The form F of the toggle toward one another whenthe pressfis closedwill obviously reduce the pressure applied between the pressing elements. During the movement ofthe toggle bey on d straightened position the lower side 24 of the cam forces the arm upwardly.

Ordinarily in a machine of this type having a toggle as seen in Figure 3, the wide open position of which is indicated by the dot and dash line W and the position of the parts in the preliminarily closed'position of which is illustrated by the line X, the arcs of movement are the same as those indicated by the lines A and-QB,Figure2. However,

during continued movement,from the posip tion indicated by the lines X to the position ma] or radius in line with the link- 8 when the indicated by the line'Y,the toggle travels a shorter distance than it does from the position indicated by'the line B' to the position indicated by the line C, Figure 2, but the head travels thesame distance. as in Figure 2. This traveling-ofthe headwith greater movement of the toggle, in my invention as seen in. Figure 2, is broughtfabout by, the eccentricmoving anti-clockwise from its. normal position where its majorradius isin line with the link- 9 out of such position.

As shown in Figure 3, during the final closing .of the .presshead, the head moves from position Y into full line, position Z, while the togglemoves from position Y to the full lineposition Z. ::In this final position Z the'toggle may :form astraight line but it is important that the press be ad- G to position D. This movement may take the toggle beyond straightened position but the compensating means furnished by the cam operated eccentric'willlengthen the toggle' sufficiently to compensate, or more than compensate if desired, for the change in angle between the'toggle links which tends to bring the-ends of the toggleclosertogether'. Obviouslythe ends of the toggle are at their greatest distan'cefrom one another when the.

toggle is in straight position. To obtain maximum pressure and "operating efficiency the pressing machine illustrated'i'n Figure 3 must be adjusted so that when maximum pres sure is applied the toggle will occupy position Z. With the pressing machine illustrated in Figure 2 maximumoperating efficiency at substantially maximum pressure may be obtained' with the toggle occupying j a wide range of positions between position 0 and D. In view of the changes in 'thethickness ofthe padding and the workuon which the press is, used the advantageof the; machine hown, nk-T e s .2 is at. qnea Qbv' a sly necessary to bear in mind that the operation of the push button permits the motive fluid as air to enter the cylinder and actuate the piston therein and the'air in the cylinder holds the press closed; andthat to open the press, the release lever 26 is operated to eX- haust the air from the cylinder so that the press will open under the action of the countersprings 13 and 14. I

WhatI claim is:

1. A pressing machine including cooperating pressing elements, one of which is movable toward and from the other, mechanism for actuatingthe movable element including anjactuator, motion transmitting means between the actuator and the movable pressing element including a toggle, means for automatically shorteningthe effective length of the toggle as the movable press element moves from preliminary closed position into final closed position, and means for thereafter increasing the length'of the toggle as the toggle passes its dead center line. 7

2. A pressing machine including cooperating pressing elements, one of which is movable toward and from the other, mechanism for actuating the movable element comprising a motor including a movable member, and motion transmitting connections between the movable motor member and the movable pressing element including a toggle, the joint connecting the toggle links comprising a pin journalled in one of the links of the toggle and having an eccentric journalled in the other link of the toggle, the eccentric being normally arranged with its greatest radius in line with one of the links of the toggle when the toggle is folded, the eccentric having a rock arm, astationary cam arranged in the path of the rock arm to rock the same and shift the eccentric as the toggle moves toward its final extended position, said cam having means to move the rock arm first in one direction and said cam also having means to move the arm in the reverse direction to shorten the effective length of the toggle and finally lengthen the toggle.

3. A pressing machine including cooperating pressing elements, one of which is movable toward and from the other, mechanism for actuating the movable element including a prime mover and motion transmitting connections between the prime mover and the movable element including a toggle, one of the'joints of the toggle having a bearing and an eccentric rotatably mounted in the bearing, the eccentric having a rock a'rm,acam for coacting with the rock arm, the cam and the rock arm being normally'spaced apart when the toggle is folded and one being movable into engagement with the other as the toggle straightens, said cam having means to first rock the rock arm and the eccentric in one direction to shorten the effective length of the toggle as the toggle approaches straightened position and said cam also having means to move the rock arm in the opposite direction to cause the eccentric to increase the effective length of the toggle.

4. In a garment pressing machine in combination a frame; cooperative pressing elements and actuating means therefor including a toggle mechanism having means for automatically varying the length of the toggle as said toggle straightens; said means including a pin and an eccentric forming one of the pivotal connections of the toggle; cam means and cam follower means, one of which is mounted on the frame and the other of which is operatively connected with the eccentric, for automatically rotating the eccentric relatively to the toggle links as the toggle straightens.

5. In a garment pressingmachine in combination a frame; cooperative pressing elements and actuating means therefor including a toggle mechanism having means for automatically varying the length of the toggle as said toggle straightens; said means including a pin and an eccentric forming one of the pivotal connections of the toggle; an arm connected with the eccentric; cam means mounted on the frame and arranged in the path of the arm to actuate it to rotate'the eccentric as the toggle approaches a straight line and as the toggle moves beyond straight line position.

6. In a garment pressing machine in combination a frame; cooperative pressing elements and actuating mechanism therefor including a toggle mechanism having links; pivot means for the links including a shaft on which one of the links is mounted and eccentric means on the shaft for engaging the other link; a bearing on said othen' link for engaging the eccentric; an arm connected with the eccentric means and extending radially therefrom; and cam means mounted on the frame in position to engage said arm as the toggle straightens.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto signed my name, at Syracuse, in the county of Onondaga, and in the State of New York, this 25th day of October, 1928.

ERNEST DAVIS. 

